Local News

Familiar faces appointed to Council vacancies

The Sitka Tribal Council has appointed two members to seats vacated after last month’s closely-contested Tribal elections.

Former council members Harvey Kitka and Clara Gray have been appointed to serve out the terms of Dale Williams and Wade Martin. The pair resigned their council seats after Williams lost the race for Tribal Council chairman. Kitka and Gray each will serve one year, and then run for full terms if they choose.

Also returning to the Tribal Council for one year will be former chairman Woody Widmark. Widmark was appointed to the vacancy left by Archie Nielsen, who has stepped down for medical reasons.

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There’s a new bird in town, and she’s a little shy. After a long career in education, she doesn’t have a lot of patience for the classroom. But for the right student, she still has plenty to teach. These days, she’s settling into a comfortable retirement, just off Sawmill Creek Road-- at the Alaska Raptor Center. more

Linda Behnken, the Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fisherman's Association was joined by Tori O'Connell, the Research Director of the Sitka Sound Science Center, to provide an update on SEASWAP (The Southeast Alaska Sperm Whale Avoidance Project). As O'Connell explains, the project just secured $311,000 in funding to continue research on a sperm whale avoidance network this fall. The avoidance network will tag whales in the Chatham Strait black cod fishery and give fisherman devices to communicate where the whales are located. Downloadable audio.more